Matt Rempe shines at Madison Square Garden against Ottawa

In the National Hockey League, an enforcer is defined as a player whose role is to prevent and respond to rough play from the opposing team. But, New York Rangers forward Matt Rempe is quickly writing his own definition — a young player with heart and an unyielding desire to go up to bat for his teammates.

A 22-year-old family-oriented player with two sisters (Alley and Steph) who formerly played hockey in the Ivy League Conference, Rempe was was drafted by the Rangers in 2020 (sixth round, pick No. 165). Despite his youth — the Alberta, Canada native has quickly become a fan-favorite due to his passion for having his teammates' backs on the ice. And after Tuesday night's 5-0 shutout win over Ottawa, many Blueshirt fans are raving about Rempe's play.

At around the 3:30 mark of the third period, Rempe got the puck on his stick and was skating full speed at Senators goaltender Anton Forsberg. His linemate Adam Edstrom had passed the puck off the wall to himself before chipping it to Rempe in the middle inside a boisterous Madison Square Garden.

Standing at 6'9" and weighing 255 pounds on skates, Rempe buried the puck without hesitation for the Rangers' third goal of the night. In what he's said is a move he's worked on throughout his hockey career, he scored his first goal of the season with a backhanded move.

"Making smart plays in the d-zone is one of the big things I've worked on," Rempe said. "I see a pass make it and I [try not] to think to much and get on my horse. [Edstrom] made a great play and I screened for it and he got it back to me. I've always kind of had a move to go to my backhand. I've always did that and it worked. I was really happy it went in.

With his goal, he became the 23rd Blueshirt to score a goal this season — making the Rangers first in the NHL for most unique goal scorers.

Unique to Rempe's goal was his celebration. "Remps" immediately put his hand to his ear, signaling to MSG that he wanted to hear the fans celebrating more success for the Blueshirts at their home arena.

An interesting note from the first goal of the third period is that because of Rempe and Edstrom's height (13'3" combined), the pair tied a league record for the tallest combination of goal scorer and primary assister.

In addition to the team's improved record and height of the roster, Rempe has said he has noticed an improvement in his lines chemistry as of late.

"[We] play a physical game. We're hard to play against," Rempe said. "We're in the o-zone a lot and we're also good defensively ... we're all big guys and we go up and down the ice well. It's a lot of fun playing with them."

Rempe was the first player in league history to make his debut outdoors. The Rangers had him play in their Stadium Series game against the fellow-city foe the Islanders on Feb 18, 2024. For Rempe, his league debut was extra special. It was six-years to the day Ron passed while shoveling snow at the Rempe family home in Calgary. This obviously gave the family-oriented player — as previously mentioned — extra motivation. He also spent the most recent offseason training with veteran Chris Kreider and living with Goaltender Jonathan Quick.

"I've been working a lot on my plays with the puck," Rempe said. "And I think the more comfortable I get, the more I can continue to make plays ... I just want to continue to work on my game and I think that's coming along nicely."

In addition to scoring, Rempe also made his impact by dropping his gloves. There was a huge scrum in the third period when Senators captain Brady Tkacuk went into the crease, hit Igor Shesterkin's hand and all hell broke loose. Every Ranger on the ice, including Shesterkin, took it personal and joined in on the fight.

“I can’t let anything happen to [Shesterkin]," Rempe said. "I had about eight guys holding me back ... Igor is the best goalie in the world. I want to do everything I can to make sure nothing happens to him.”

From afar, it looked like Tkachuk whacked Shesterkin's hand with his stick, and that's when the things got heated.

"It was a hit on me, and I didn't really enjoy that," Shesterkin said on why he jumped in the scuffle.

As the fighting went on and players started getting broken up, players such as Rempe and fellow-youngster Braden Schneider — the two Rangers more inclined to fight — were held back by Ottawa players and referees.

"[I was] a little nervous cause I don’t want anything to happen to him, but I love it. Just cause he’s a competitor. Just want to make sure I get in there and nothing happens. It was awesome, Igor’s the man."

The game was practically over by that point with the Rangers leading by three with just over 12 minutes remaining. But, how the Rangers responded to Tkachuk's incident shows how much they and especially Rempe cared.

After the scrum ended, the Rangers went on to record to more points to finalize the win as 5-0 and secure two points for the Blueshirts.